thunderbolt Hear it!

thunderbolt Definition

thunder·bolt (-bōlt′)

noun

  1. a flash of lightning and the accompanying thunder
  2. a bolt or missile imagined as hurled to earth by a stroke of lightning
  3. something that stuns or acts with sudden violence or force

thunderbolt Synonyms

thunderbolt

n.

explosion, crash, clap of thunder, flash, peal, boom, roll, crack, flash of lightning, thunderpeal, thunderclap, thunderstroke; see also lightning.

thunderbolt Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • hurl: The thunder spirits had even less success in trying to hurl thunderbolts at him.
  • unleash: Kay Foster unleashed a thunderbolt into the top corner from 35 yards to open the scoring for Brache.
  • strike: The Cameroon striker pulls away from Campbell, turns and strikes a left-footed thunderbolt.
  • hit: Koller opened the scoring after just five minutes with a powerful header, before Arsenal new-boy Tomas Rosicky hit a thunderbolt from 30-yards.
  • send: My men disregarded all warnings and sacrificed his cattle, so back at sea Zeus sent a thunderbolt that smashed the ship.
  • throw: When you reach Drax he'll throw a few thunderbolts at you.

Converse of subject

  • destroy: These were destroyed by a miraculous thunderbolt before Catherine was harmed, but she was eventually beheaded with a sword.
  • kill: A person being struck by lightning was therefore thought to have been killed by a thunderbolt.

Adjective modifier

  • p-47: The airfield was occupied by the 352nd Fighter Group, They used P-47 Thunderbolts until converting to P-51 Mustangs in April 1944.

Modifies a noun

  • shot: This turned to gasps of disbelief and then a roar of acclaim as the thunderbolt shot crashed into the far corner of the net.
  • fall: Then something snapped in your soul, and you let God's thunderbolt fall.

Noun used with modifier

  • RAF: During the air battles leading to the re-capture of Rangoon, RAF Thunderbolts flew fighter escort missions with RAF Liberator bombers.

Preposition: of

  • steel: The other begins: The time has come for thunderbolts Of steel from the sky.

Preposition: from

  • yard: On 78 minutes, Hyde's top scorer Simon Yeo blasted his 14th goal of the season with a thunderbolt from 25 yards.
  • sky: It hit us like a thunderbolt from the clear blue sky.
thunderbolt Quotes

He clasps the crag with crooked hands; Close to the sun in lonely lands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands. The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls; He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.

—Tennyson